In a wireless network (e.g., mobile core network), a typical Quality of Service (QoS) approach is to provide “best effort” when servicing applications. However, as applications or services utilized in the wireless network become more prevalent and more data intensive (e.g., video, multimedia), providing QoS for these applications or services can become more challenging. Further, a QoS of “best effort” is not desirable and/or is insufficient for many new applications or services. Traditional QoS approaches are not sufficient due to, for instance, large uncontrollable variations in radio frequency (RF) link conditions (and resulting available bandwidth) in the communication network (e.g., wireless communication network).
Conventionally, rate adaptation (e.g., adaptation of a coding rate, which translates to a corresponding bandwidth) is used to provide decent QoS with efficient resource utilization for voice calls in wireless systems (e.g., cellular systems). However, rate adaptation based on network conditions is generally not used for video or other applications or services, which are highly sensitive to QoS conditions such as delay/latency, jitter, packet loss, etc. Further, conventional rate adaptation techniques do not take into account the different types of applications or services being used in the network, where the applications or services can have different QoS needs and characteristics. Conventional rate adaptation techniques also do not take into account expected values of network conditions (e.g., QoS factors, RF link conditions) or desired data rates for a communication device. It is desirable to adapt data rates of communication devices in response to respective applications and services (and respective modes of operation) employed by the communication devices. It also is desirable to efficiently adapt data rates of communication devices in response to changing network conditions or expected changes in network conditions in a communication network.